Born
from
a collection of bored college students stranded in a cow town in the
conservative
heartland of Oregon came a group of off beat minstrels that made people
dance the Reagan years away. Presenting a lethal dose of a challenging,
left of center attitude. Actually, CRAZY 8s evolved from the dredges of
the jazz program at Oregon State University and the remains of a party
band named after my girlfriend's affection for my butt. The Cheeks,
they're
mondo!

A combination
of
naive confidence and cocky swagger, mixed with an earnest belief that
we
could make it, helped generate the intense maniacal energy that was the
foundation of our early success. A solid lineup of early opening gigs
for
The Clash, The English Beat, Romeo Void and The Violent Femmes helped
get
the 8s name out to the college crowd.

It certainly
didn't
hurt that I was a DJ at KBVR-FM Oregon State University's college radio
station, and pals with Marc Baker the station manager. Marc should have
been the offspring of Colonel Parker, Malcolm McLaren and Brian Epstein.

My utilization
of
contacts that I had from a stint with the Eugene based band, Sneakers,
helped validate CRAZY 8s early as a headliner throughout the I-5
corridor.
"Bakes" secured CRAZY 8s as opening act for The English Beat at the
University
of Oregon and promptly became manager and took the ball and ran with it
toward our breakout effort, Law and Order.

Our trombone
player,
Tim Tubb, wrote the track that broke us titled Johnny Q. The contagious
horn intro launched us to airplay on over 300 college radio stations as
well as "screamer of the week" on WLIR in New York City. Law and Order
sold over 20,000 units on our own Red Rum label. Despite our best
efforts
to fail, we appeared on the national cattle call, Star Search. Ed
McMahon had one heck of a mini bar in his dressing room! Stir in
the incredible cover art by nationally syndicated political cartoonist
Jack Ohman with a strong helping of quality musicianship and the
outcome
became the catalyst for 13 years of intense, powerful, original,
independent
live music that affected the masses. Not bad from an 8 dollar
band
fund.

I remember when
"Bakes"
drove up to Victoria, B.C. and brought our first LP, Law and Order. I
can't
recall a moment that I felt more proud, I think I slept with that 33 ½
piece of vinyl. I can sincerely recall the love and respect I had, and
still have for the butt kickin' band mates and killer musicians that I
was fortunate enough to sing with and for CRAZY 8s faithful that I sang
in front of during our glorious run.

Twenty years
ago
when we were wrapping up the final mix of Law and Order, news broke
that
KAL 007 was blown out of the sky. Fools are still blowing things
up, from presidents to terrorists. I believe that the more things
change,
the more they stay the same. Know your rights!

Todd Duncan
2004

The last five years we played a few
reunions
and C.D re-release events. This year we have been doing more
events,
and fans and their kids are showing up in record numbers. The Zoo sold
out, as did the Aladdin Theater.